The Chicago Blackhawks didn’t play their prettiest defensive game against the Lightning on Thursday night, but they still found a way to win in head coach Jeff Blashill’s return to Tampa Bay.
Spencer Knight continues to be a massive part of the Blackhawks’ early-season success, as he stopped 29 of 31 shots faced to help steer his team to a 3-2 win over the Lightning at Benchmark International Arena. Knight earned his third win of the year to move Chicago to 4-0-1 over its last five games. The 24-year-old netminder has surrendered two goals or fewer in four consecutive starts.
“I thought we worked extremely hard, competed extremely hard,” Blashill said after the win. “We made some mistakes. And when [we] make mistakes, Knight has been great. He makes big saves at big moments, and it gives us a chance to win.”
Ryan Donato, who entered Thursday’s contest riding a three-game goal streak, found the back of the net twice against Tampa, including the game-winner with just under one minute remaining in the third period. Donato kept his heater going and has now potted the GWG in back-to-back contests. The 29-year-old forward also extended his point streak to five games.
“The young guys are hungry to win,” Donato said while talking with the ESPN+ broadcast during a postgame interview. “I think it’s fun to be a part of. They want to win. They want to do the right things, and when everybody’s pushing from the same side, good things happen.”
Good things have indeed happened for the Blackhawks since a tough 0-2-1 beginning to the 2025-26 campaign. The resiliency from this young group has been remarkable under Blashill in his first year with the team. They’ve been tied or held the lead going into the third period in all eight games, and now they’re starting to learn how to finish the job.
“There’s been some hard times and some good times. But [we’re] learning from losses and mistakes,” Frank Nazar said after the game. “We’re learning [how] to be able to come out in games like this and understand it takes to be mature and win.”
Here are the highlights, key stats, takeaways, and analytics (per Natural Stat Trick) from an epic victory in Tampa Bay.
FIRST PERIOD
The game began with a stunning play by defenseman Sam Rinzel, as he stripped Lightning star forward Nikita Kucherov at the Blackhawks’ blue line, which then led to a chance for Colton Dach at the other end. Dach was in the perfect position to whack home Nick Foligno’s rebound, but the puck somehow seemed to trickle off his blade.
The Blackhawks still managed to open the scoring just a few moments later, as Nazar’s stellar first full NHL season continues to be on full display. Nazar hammered a one-timer on the power play for his fourth goal of the season to give the visitors a 1-0 lead. It’s now the sixth time in eight games the Blackhawks have scored first.
Teuvo Teravainen➡️Tyler Bertuzzi➡️Frank Nazar🚨
Nazar hammers home the one-timer from Bertuzzi for his 4th goal of the season to put the #Blackhawks ahead 1-0 on the power play!pic.twitter.com/vOQLh3xc4l
— Talkin’ Hawkey (@TalkinHawkey) October 23, 2025
Late in the period, Rinzel took a hard hit into the boards from Tampa Bay forward Mitchell Chaffee, which forced him to exit the game momentarily. Rinzel, who’s put himself in harm’s way a few times now during his rookie season, suffered a small cut just above his left eye. He got patched up and returned to the game for the start of the second period. Also… are we sure that’s not a boarding penalty?
The Blackhawks captain sure seemed to believe it was, as Foligno was assessed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for arguing with the officials about the no-call on the play. It’s great to have Foligno back, and even better to hear that his daughter, Milana, is home and progressing well from her latest surgery.
SECOND PERIOD
Tampa Bay started to take control of the momentum early on in the second period, as they showed their desperation with only one win in their opening six contests heading into Thursday.
During a scrambly sequence by the Blackhawks, Jake Guentzel scored his second goal of the season by deflecting Ryan McDonagh’s shot from the point past Knight. It’s not shown in the clip, but Lukas Reichel made a poor exit pass while his defensemen were expecting a clear down the ice. That led to a dangerous rush chance for Tampa Bay, and the puck found its way behind Knight seconds after.
It didn’t take long for the Hawks to respond and regain their lead, as Donato scored his first goal of the evening by snapping a wrister past goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy. More on Vasilevskiy a little later in the column.
Despite a strong surge by Tampa Bay, the Blackhawks looked like they were going to take a one-goal advantage going into the third period. But with under a minute remaining in the middle frame, Kucherov made another sensational play to set up McDonaugh all alone at the far post to even the score 2-2.
The Lightning led 30-17 in shot attempts, 11-6 in shots on goal, and 15-9 in scoring chances at even strength during the period. The Blackhawks weren’t at their best, but Knight was there to bail them out.
THIRD PERIOD
Chicago had a 5-on-3 power-play attempt early in the third period, as Bedard was hit with a high stick from Yanni Gourde, which ended up being a double minor. Bedard was split open on his lip, and he unfortunately missed the two-man advantage while getting fixed up.
Bedard was frustrated after being told by the officials that he wasn’t allowed back on the ice while his cut was still open.
The Lightning managed to kill off their pair of penalties, and then received a power-play chance of their own immediately after. Knight made a few spectacular saves to keep the game level at two apiece, including these shots right after Landon Slaggert stepped out of the sin bin.
Then, with the game on the line in the final minute, Teuvo Teravainen made a phenomenal defensive play to take the puck away from Kucherov in the defensive zone. The Finnish forward gained control of the puck and sprung Nazar for a breakaway attempt, and Donato pounced on the rebound to put home the game-winner and his second goal of the night.
Teuvo Teravainen➡️Frank Nazar➡️Ryan Donato🚨
DONATO COMES UP IN THE CLUTCH! His 2nd goal of the game & 5th of the season puts the #Blackhawks ahead 3-2 late in Tampa! Nazar & Teravainen with their 2nd points of the game! LETS GOOOOOpic.twitter.com/brM4DGYiyt
— Talkin’ Hawkey (@TalkinHawkey) October 24, 2025
“Unbelievable play by Teravainen,” Blashill said after the game. “He makes an unbelievable defensive play, and because of that, we’re able to go up the ice and ultimately score the goal. That’s what we’ve been trying to build, checking for your offense.”
The Blackhawks have now come away victorious in three of their last four games when tied going into the final period. As Nazar and Blashill both said during their post-game media sessions, the kids are learning from their mistakes and figuring out what it takes to win close contests. It continues to be very fun watching them all grow together.
DOWN GOES ANDREI
Coming into Thursday, the five-time Vezina Trophy finalist Vasilevskiy had never lost to the Blackhawks in the regular season. He had a squeaky-clean 13-0-0 record, 2.14 goals-against average, .930 save percentage, and one shutout in 13 matchups against Chicago.
The Blackhawks finally got the better of the Bolts’ netminder, as they beat him three times on 25 shots to hand him that first loss. Vasilevskiy is now 0-3-2 with a 3.41 GAA and .885 Sv% on the new season.
While we’re talking about Vezina finalists, I might as well make a case for Knight here early on in the season. Yes, there is a LONG way to go, and there will surely be bumps in the road for Knight at some point with this young defensive group… but they haven’t happened yet.
Through his first six starts, Knight now has a 3-2-1 record, a 1.97 GAA, and .937 Sv% on the year. Knight saved another 1.06 goals above expected on Thursday, which has him trailing only Igor Shesterkin in that category this season. It’s still a small sample size, but Knight has performed like one of the best goaltenders in the NHL so far for the Blackhawks.
Final 5v5 stats, per @NatStatTrick:
Shot attempts: 63-33 TBL
SOG: 27-16 TBL
Scoring chances: 30-18 TBL
HD chances: 9-8 CHI
xGF: 3.34 – 1.81
Tampa was the more dangerous team tonight, but Knight shut them down. He’s now allowed 2 goals or fewer in 4 straight starts. #Blackhawks https://t.co/613QdwQIMH
— Jack Bushman (@JackBushman2) October 24, 2025
Just a reminder that GM Kyle Davidson acquired Knight AND a first-round pick from the Florida Panthers in exchange for Seth Jones at the 2024 trade deadline. That’s a deal that has worked out nicely for both teams involved, but Chicago seems to have secured their future No. 1 goalie AND another potential high-end prospect from Florida. Good business, Kyle.
REICHEL BENCHED FOR 3RD PERIOD
Reichel opened Thursday’s game on the top line with Bedard and Tyler Bertuzzi, as Andre Burakovsky was away from the team while on maternity leave. That gave Reichel a massive opportunity to showcase his stuff alongside two red-hot forwards, but he didn’t have many noticeable plays on the night.
In the opening 20 minutes, Reichel and the top line were stuck defending for most of their shifts, which led to some lopsided analytics at even strength.
#Blackhawks top line of Reichel-Bedard-Bertuzzi was stuck defending for most of their shifts in the 1st period.
Tampa Bay led 11-0 in shot attempts, 5-0 in shots on goal, & 3-0 in scoring chances with Reichel on the ice, per @NatStatTrick.
— Jack Bushman (@JackBushman2) October 23, 2025
Reichel ended up recording the lone assist on Donato’s first tally, but he was also on the ice for both of Tampa Bay’s goals in the second period. One of which, as I mentioned earlier, he didn’t have a particularly strong clearing effort out of the defensive zone.
Blashill ended up stapling Reichel to the bench for most of the third period, as he received just one shift that occurred in the opening two minutes. In the end, Reichel received a team-low 10:58 of ice time on Thursday.
With Dickinson and Burakovsky potentially rejoining the lineup against the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday, this could foreshadow a healthy scratch for Reichel in the Blackhawks’ next outing.
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